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Jimmy Eat World – Stay On My Side Tonight

The only outstanding Jimmy Eat World release to not get pressed on vinyl finally saw the light of the day in early 2016. The Stay On My Side Tonight EP was pressed on 150 gram black vinyl and comes with an insert and download card. The only reason I make mention of the record being 150 gram is because the hype sticker on the perforated poly bag the 12″ EP comes sealed in makes mention of it. All copies come with a download card. No word on pressing info, but expect it to be in the thousands because it’s a major label release.

There are some big question marks surrounding this release as some people received copies of the record with glaring errors. The biggest problem lies with the track listing on the back of the jacket, which has the track listing broken down wrong. Instead of the proper two tracks on Side A and three tracks on Side B, the copies of the record in question have three tracks listed on Side A and two on Side B. The records have the correct track listing however. Mark Trombino’s (EP’s producer) name is also spelled wrong on the insert. It’s important to note that people receiving copies like this are in America and multiple people have reported having the same errors. Some people are dubbing this an error pressing, which is obviously the case, but more light needs to be shed on it. Some people are speculating these error copies were meant to be distributed in Europe or were pressed in Europe to be sold there. But that can’t be correct because there is no Euro pressing of this EP.

The likeliest answer to the error pressing is that it’s simply an error that was caught somewhere in the middle of production. This release had quite a few delays, with the release date pushed back multiple times. These delays likely stemmed from the errors with the track listing on the back of the jacket. So what likely happened is that a small amount of copies with the error mistakenly got sent out to distributors. This release has not been recalled, but the problems has obviously been corrected since my copy, and plenty of other peoples’, do not have the error. So far the label has been mum about the situation, but I don’t know if anyone has contacted them or the band about the problems.

My copy does not have the track listing error but does have Mark Trombino’s name spelled wrong on the insert. Instead of Trombino it reads Trobmino. People who have the CD version of Stay On My Side Tonight say this same spelling error is on the CD credits as well. So the layout was taken directly from the CD version and just upscaled to fit an LP. It’s the third mention of Trombino’s name that is misspelled, under the percussion credit on “Disintegration.” I have included pictures of both the correct and error jackets below, with the correct jacket picture coming first.

A few days after posting this a pink variant was announced, which is limited to 1,000 copies and only available through Jimmy Eat World’s web store hosted by Kings Road Merch. Whether or not this new pink variant is a new pressing, which would be the second overall is unknown. It’s either that or the label held on to these pink copies for weeks. If that is the case it’s somewhat surprising they didn’t put it up for pre-order along with the black copies, but holding back the pink copies could be a sales tactic to drive up sales of the black variant. It’s up in the air right now which scenario is correct.

I advise everyone to not buy anything from Kings Road Merch (KRM) from here on out because they now only ship records via priority mail, which costs at least $11 depending on where you live. They are not offering media mail any longer. And we all know you can ship a record from anywhere to anywhere in the country for under $4 via media mail. I first noticed (most people noticed when these new colored Jimmy Eat World variants were announced) KRM made this switch around the holidays (2015) and I hoped it would be only for the holiday season, but turns out it’s permanent. KRM claims it’s to prevent damage to records and keep impatient people at bay. This is their statement regarding it: “We are no longer offering media mail due to its incredibly slow delivery times and high rate of damage to orders.” Complete BS; 90% of the time records arrive undamaged via media mail. And guess what KRM, records can still arrive damaged via any method of delivery. We all know this is profit driven. It’s also sad, pathetic and a little hilarious that you can order from KRM’s European distro and shipping will be cheaper than buying domestic.